By Nosakhare Agbonigiarhuoyi
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has announced that Edo State will henceforth deploy intelligent transportation management systems powered by technology, and will no longer have a Ministry of Transportation, nor construct flyovers, and roundabouts, to manage traffic, describing them as archaic.
He disclosed the development on Monday, February 20, 2023, during the flag-off ceremony of the Junction Improvement Works at Ekiosa/Sakponba road junction and KADA junction, Benin-Sapele road, as part of a series of efforts aimed at freeing up traffic congestion which impedes Edo’s status as an economic corridor in Nigeria.
Other junctions to included in the revamp include Adesuwa junction, along Benin-Sapele road; Textile Mill road junction by Siluko road; New Benin market junction; Owoseni junction, Mission road; Dawson junction, Mission road; and Vegetable market junction, Airport road.
The Governor reiterated Edo’s transportation hub status, noting that with the influx of traffic from all parts of Nigeria, a project of this nature had become very necessary.
He said that the project will ensure the free flow of traffic, which in turn will encourage more investments in the State and which will result from the free passage of goods and services.
Explaining the grand design for the junction improvement works, Mr Obaseki added that the project is part of the 30-year urban renewal plan for Benin City and a 30-year Regional Development Plan for Edo which essentially makes it more aesthetically pleasing to tourists and investors.
He said: “Traffic is now becoming a big problem for us in Edo State and in Benin City in particular
“As a responsible government, we cannot sit idle and not do something about it or plan for the future of traffic in our city.
Insisting on the use of technology to manage the traffic challenge in the State, Mr. Obaseki said: “We are trying to move to modernity in the way we manage our transport in Edo state.
“Flyover is not a solution anymore. Roundabouts were fashionable many years ago but today, they are no longer. With technology today, we can manage our transport by having intelligent transport systems around locations referred to as “choke points”’.
Furthermore, the governor called on the transport unions in the state – the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) – to continue to partner with the State Government to ensure the control and management of traffic in the State.
Mr. Obaseki also noted that the State now has a Transport Authority for the first time in its history to replace the now archaic Ministry of Transport.
Also speaking, the Managing Director, Mrs. Edugie Agbonlahor, lauded the project as timely to ease the traffic congestion bedeviling the State.
She said: “The junction improvement work is one of the determined efforts of His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to reposition the transport sector in Edo State to play its key role of driving economic and social growth through seamless mobility of persons and goods.”
The Managing Director, Planet Projects Limited (the engineering company to undertake the project), Engr. Biodun Otunola, commended the governor for the initiative and said that flyovers have become a thing of the past in developed countries. Instead, the use of an intelligent transport system has been adopted.
Present at the ceremony include the Managing Director, Edo State Transport Authority, Mrs. Edugie Agbonlahor; Managing Director, Edo State Traffic Control and Management Agency (EDSTMA), Mr. Dennis Oloriegbe; Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corp, Edo State Command, Mr. Paul Okpe; among others.
